{"id":889927,"date":"2026-04-12T22:36:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/889927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:36:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:36:58","slug":"i-was-diagnosing-myself-with-new-illnesses-every-day-it-took-over-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/889927\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I was diagnosing myself with new illnesses every day. It took over my life’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Natalie Dyson, 3, from Blackpool was spending \u00a31,000 a month on private health care\"Natalie<\/p>\n

Natalie Dyson, 37, quit her job after suffering crippling health anxiety<\/p>\n

A mum who left her job due to debilitating health<\/a> anxiety and was spending \u00a31,000 monthly on private appointments has overcome the condition – by pursuing a career in floristry.<\/p>\n

Natalie Dyson, 37, invested thousands in healthcare while experiencing anxiety episodes several times a day. Her first symptom was getting a pain in her breast when she was pregnant with her first child.<\/p>\n

She developed ‘triggers’ such as hearing ambulances, seeing cancer awareness posters and even showering in case she discovered a lump. However, after stepping away from her position as a dental practice manager of 15 years, she credits immersing herself in floristry with transforming her life.<\/p>\n

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She’s now preparing to open her own shop as the venture has “completely bloomed”, realising a dream she once thought impossible.<\/p>\n

Natalie, from Blackpool, said: “Floristry has given me a constant focus, it means I don’t have any time to think about the anxiety. Honestly, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”<\/p>\n

Health anxiety is a condition where individuals become excessively worried about their wellbeing, often misinterpreting ordinary bodily sensations as indicators of severe illness, reports Lancs Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It can lead to constant checking, repeated medical appointments and intrusive thoughts, and is closely linked to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).<\/p>\n

\"Natalie<\/p>\n

Natalie Dyson <\/p>\n

Recalling the start of the condition in 2021, Natalie said: “I was diagnosing myself with different illnesses three times a day. It was very frightening. It completely took over my life.<\/p>\n

“I couldn’t even watch TV programmes or films in case there were storylines about cancer, because I’d automatically think I was going to get it.”<\/p>\n

She said it began during pregnancy with her middle child five years ago. “I remember the thought of all the happiness and excitement being taken away from me.<\/p>\n

“It just became this massive thing. There was no information about health anxiety anywhere, I thought I was going insane. No one talks about it.”<\/p>\n

At its worst, Natalie says she was contacting doctors constantly and spending large sums seeking reassurance. She said: “I used to ring up every day. I spent a lot of money on private appointments to get seen faster – over \u00a31,000.”<\/p>\n

She said the spending stretched from when her symptoms first began until the middle of last year.<\/p>\n

Natalie added: “Even when I was pregnant, I would book secret scans to make sure my baby was okay and that was costing me \u00a380 a time. Sometimes I would go twice a week.”<\/p>\n

\"Natalie<\/p>\n

Natalie shares her experiences and how she manages her health anxiety on TikTok with nearly 50,000 followers<\/p>\n

She said returning to work after maternity leave proved overwhelming, particularly as she spent long days alone in an office. When I went back to work after maternity, I was just not the same. I was in the office on my own and the thoughts were awful.<\/p>\n

“I stepped away because it was not good for my mental health – I just used to spiral.”<\/p>\n

Now, after stepping away from her old career, Natalie says she has found a new focus through floristry. Dyson shares her experiences and how she manages her health anxiety on TikTok with nearly 50,000 followers,<\/p>\n

“Floristry was only supposed to be something I was going to do on the side, but it has completely bloomed. I called my business ‘Clarity Floristry’ because of the clarity of mind it has brought.”<\/p>\n

Natalie added: “When I was stood in the shop for the first time, I cried. I couldn’t believe I’ve achieved this.”<\/p>\n

Now, she shares her experiences online to raise awareness of the condition, saying many sufferers feel isolated.<\/p>\n

Natalie said: “There needs to be more awareness. People are suffering in silence.”<\/p>\n

When asked about the advice she’d offer others facing the same condition, she said: “Don’t give up. You’ve got to follow your dreams, even when anxiety tells you that you can’t do something.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Natalie Dyson, 3, from Blackpool was spending \u00a31,000 a month on private health care Natalie Dyson, 37, quit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[1990,105,4348,1804,218,16,15],"class_list":["post-889927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-blackpool","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-lancashire","tag-mental-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116394134656691709","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}